Furnace charger



.T. M. ROSE FURNACE CHARGER Nov. 27, 95]

2 SHEET-SHEET 2 Filed Feb. 2, 1949 mmm" WN %W INVENTOR THoMAs M. ROSEPatented Nov. 27, 1951 was FURNACE CHARGER Thomas M. Rose, Pttsburgh,Pa., assignoto Salem-Brosius, Inc a corporation of PennsylvaniaApplication February 2, 1949, Serial No. 74,147

This invention relates to furnace chargers and has to do particularlywith a furnace charger 'having a novel peel Operating mechanism whichhas important advantages in use.

Furnace chargers move toward and away from floor or overhead, but mayalso operate without the use of tracks, simply running upon the floorlike an automobile. Furnace chargers of this type are called auto floorchargers.

A furnace charger has a peel which is an elongated member adapted tocarry the charge at its outer end and whose inner end is connected withthe body of the chargcr. The charger has means for moving the peelrelatively to the charger body to perform the necessary Operations.

Generally ;i

12 Claims. (CI. 214-26) the peel is moved to a relatively low positionto receive the charge and is elevated to introduce the charge into thefurnace.

Sometimes a furnace charger operates in a relatively narrow aislebetween opposed rows of furnaces. peel to a Very consider-able heightabove the position at which the peel receives the charge to enableintroduction of the charge through the furnace door into the furnace.

A problem arises incident to the narrow compass in which a charger mustoperate and the difference in height between the charge receivingposition and the charging position of the peel. The charger must be oflimited length to enable it to work in the confined space and it must beeffective for moving the peel through a very considerable verticaldistance. The problem is not a new one. Those skilled in the art havefor many years been attempting to design furnace chargers having a ratioof length of the charger to amplitude of vertical movement of the peelas low as possible. Those attempts have resulted in the creation ofcomplicated., expensive and impractical structures which have fallen farshort of solving the problem.

I have devised a charger which by reason of its unique Operatingmechanism has a very low ratio of length of the charger to amplitude ofvertical peel movement yet which is not of ex- Some furnaces requireelevation of the 'pivotal connections with the base.

pensive of complex Construction and is effective for handling anexceptionally heavy load for a charger having such a low ratio of lengthto amplitude of vertical peel movement. I provide a furnace chargercomprising a base, arms pivoted to the base and crossing each other, apeel carried by the arms, the arms having elongated guideways extendingrespectively therealong, a control member guided by and movable alongthe guideways upon relative turning of the arms about their respectivepivotal connections with the base, guide means fixedly mountedrelatively to the base by which the control member is also guided andalong which it moves upon relative turning 4 of the arms about theirrespective pivotal connections with the base and means for relativelyturning the arms about their respective pivotal connections with thebase. I also preferably prodesired.

Desirably the peel is pivoted to one of the arms of the charger and hasa slidable connection withthe other thereof. The elongated guideways,which extend along the arms may take the form of elongated Slotsthrough the arms and the control member may pass through those Slots.The means for relatively turning the arms about their respective pivotalconnections with the base may include a movable connection between thebase and one of the arms such connection may extend betweenthe base andthe pivotal connection between the peel and an arm which is pivoted tothe peel. Desirably a hydraulically actuable Operating. member connectedwith the base and acting against one of the arms is provided forrelatively turning the arms about their respective A cylinder may bepivoted to the base, a piston adapted to be hydraulically actuated maybe disposed in the cylinder and an Operating connection may be providedbetween the piston and one of the arms. The Operating connection mayconnect the piston and the pivotal connection between the peel and 'thebase and opposed adjusting screws may be employed for adjusting theposition of the guide means on thebase.

Other details, objects and advantages of the invention will becomeapparent as the following description of a present preferred embodimentthereof proceeds.

In the accompanying drawings I have shown a present preferred embodimentof the invention, in which Figure 1 is an elevational View of a furnacecharger showing the charger in solid lines in position to deliver acharge within a urnace and showing the peel in chain lines in loweredposition for picking up a charge;

Figure 2 is a plan View of the charger; and

Figure 3 is a fragmentary Vertical cross-sectional view to enlargedscale through a portion of the charger, including particularly the peelOperating mechanism.

Referrng now more particularly to the drawings, there is shown a furnacecharger which comprises a base designated generally by reference numeral2 which may be a fabricated structural metal'frame or chassis. Thechassis has a front axle 3 carrying two front wheels l, one at each sideof the charger, and has a rear axle 5 carried by a supporting member 6which is turnable about a vertical axis l. The rear vaxle `5 carriesrear wheels 8. i The charger is provided with a hydraulic fluidOperating system which broadly is conventional. Mounted on the chassisis an electric motor 9 whose shaft I& is connected through a coupling 'Il with a centrifugal pump I 2 which provides hydraulic fluid such as oilunder pressure for operation of the charger. Current for Operating themotor 9 may 'reach the charger through an electric cable !3 wound upon adrum !4 and connected with conductors passing downwardly through a post[5 to the motor. A seat !6 is provided for the operator and a set ofcontrols H are disposed in position to be operated by the operator whensitting upon the seat 16. Everything which has been described up to thispoint may be conventional and is well understand by all those skilled inthe art.

Rigidly connected with the chassis 2 so as in eect to form parts thereofare opposed plates !8 in which is mounted a shaft IS slung below thecharger. Two arms 20, one at each side of the charger, are pivoted tothe shaft l9. Two other arms 2l, one at each side of the charger, arepivoted to the front axle 3. The arms 2!! and 2I cross each other inscissors fashion as shown. Pivoted to the upper ends of the arms 2! at22 is the peel 23 of the charger. has opposed members 24, each havingtherein an elongated slot 25. The upper end of each of the arms 253rotatively carries a roller 26 disposed within the slot 25 of thecorresponding ?member 24.

Each of the arms 25 has an elongated guideway in the form of a slot 21therethrough and each of the arms 2 has an elongated guideway in theform of a slot 28 therethrough. The slots 2'! and 28 are at the centralportions of the arms 28 and 2l and are elongated in the direction of thelengths of those arms. A control member designated generally byreference numeral 29 passes 'through both slots 21 and both slots 28"andprojects laterally at bothsides of the charger.

'The member 29 carries shoes 3@ and 3! which ride respectively in theslots 27 and 28. Each of the shoes 39 and 3! is somewhat elongated inthe direction of the length of the slot in which it rides.-

The member 29 has at its ends rollers 32, each The peel of which isdisposed within a generally vertically arranged guide 33. Each guide 33is bolted to the chassis by bolts 34 which clamp the guide to thechassis. There are four bolts 34 for each of the two guides 33 and whenthe bolts 34 are tightened the guides are fixedly mounted relatively tothe chassis or base 2. Upper and lower sets of opposed adjusting screws35 are provided in the chassis for shifting the guides 33 longitudnallyof the chassis. The holes in the chassis through which the bolts 3 5pass are elongated longitudinally of the chassis and have a verticaldimension somewhat greater than the diameter of the bolts so that theguides 33 may be adjusted longitudinally of the chassis and alsoangularly to a limited extent. By adjustng the guides 33 the amplitudeof vertical movement and the inclination of the peel in its motions arecontrolled.

In most cases the positions of the guides 33 will be carefully adjustedat the factory before the charger is sent 'out to the Customer and thecustomer will not need to make `any further adjustznents. However, onoccasions the Customer may need to adjust the positions of the guides;this may be required because of misalignmentof parts due to wear orbecause of some unusual conditions encountered in use of the' chargerwhich require special adjustment of the peel as to angularity or limitsof Vertical movement. Adjustment of the guides 33 is accomplished bylocsening the bolts 34 and turning the adjusting screws 35 until thedesired adjustment is obtained. The adjusting screws 35 are maintainedin desired adjusted position by jam nuts 36. Afterthe desired adjustmentof the guides 33 has been obtained the bolts 36 are tightened r in acylinder i i, the piston being hydraulically operable to advance thepusher 43 to push a charge off of the fork M.

A cylinder %E is pivotally mounted between the plates 53 on trunnions46. A piston operates within the cylinder 45, the piston having a pistonrod 4? connected with a member 48 pivot-ed to the pivot 22 between thearms 2! and the peel suitable conduits `(not shown) are provided fromthe oil pump i? to the cylinders 4 1 and 45. A drive (not shown) isprovided for the rear axle 5 Whereby the charger may be driven about onthe floor. All portions of the charger are controlled by the controls i?operated by the operator seated on the seat !6. To avoid unnecessarydescription of conventional parts only those parts with which theinvention is concerned have been described in detail.

I shall now desc'ibe the operation of the furnace charger shown in thedrawings. This charger may be used, for example, in charging scrap, e.g., Copper scrap, into a melting furnace.

A melting furnace is shown diagrammatically at 69, the charging openingbeing shown at 53. A car %i is shown in front of the furnace. The chargemay be brought up to the urnace front on the car 5! in bundles or bales.

When the charge has been brought up to the furnace front by the car EHthe furnace charger operator'moves the charger to a position relatains.

- reached the bottom of the cylinder.

est the body of the charger.

-Figure 1.

tively remote from the furnace but with the peel pointing toward thefurnace. Fluid is released from below' the piston in the cylinder 45 andthe peel settles by gravity to its lowermost position as shown in chainlines in Figure 1, or, if desired, the 'pisten may be fluid operated toits lowermost position. When the peel is inits lowermost position thepiston is adjacent the bottom of the cylinder 45 and the shoes 30 and 3!are adjacent the bottoms of the slots 21 and 28, respectively, or suchcondition approximately ob- Downward movement of the peel is limitedeither by the piston in the cylinder 45 reaching the bottom of thecylinder or by the shoes 38 reaching the bottoms of the slots 21 or bythe shoes 3! reaching the bottoms of the slots 28. The lowermostposition of the peel can be controlled by adjustment of the guides 33longitudinally of the charger as such adjustment will cause either theshoes 30 to reach the bottoms of the slots 21 or the shoes 3! to reachthe bottoms of the slots 28, depending upon the direction of adjustmentof the guides 33, somewhat before the shoes of the other set havereached the bottoms of their slots and also somewhat before the pistonin the cylinder 45 has Adjustment of the guides 33 also affects theangularity of the peel.

When the peel' is in its lowermost position ready to pick up a chargefrom the car 5! the upper surface of the fork 4! may be inclinedslightly downwardly from left to right viewing Figure 1. Thisfacilitates pushing the fork under the charge on the car 5! and insuresthat the charge will bear upon a portion of the fork near- The chargeris moved to push the fork beneath the charge on the car 51, whereuponfluid is admitted below the piston in the cylinder 45 and the peel israised to the uppermost or solid line position of Upward movement of thepiston in the cylinder 45 raises the rear or left-hand ends of the arms2! viewing Figure 1 and also raises the pivot 22 which connects thosearms with the peel 23.` The control member 29 causes upward movement ofthe right-hand ends of the arms 20 which raises the right-hand portionof the peel, the rollers 26 rolling back in the slots 25.

The peel maintains a generally horizontal orientation in upward movementfrom the chain line position to the solid line position of Figure 1although with the guides 33 in the precise adjustment shown theangularity of the peel changes slightly so that its right-hand end istilted somewhat upwardly when the peel is in the solid line positioninstead of somewhat downwardly as when the peel is in the chain lineposition. Upward movement of the peel may be limited by the piston inthe cylinder 45 reaching the upper end of the cylinder or by the shoes30 reaching the upper ends of the Slots 21 or by the shoes 3! reachingthe upper ends of the Slots With the peel in its raised position thecharger is moved toward the urnace to introduce the peel into thefurnace through the charging opening until the peel is disposedgenerally above the location in the furnace at which it is desired todeposit the charge. At that time fluid is admitted behind or to the leitof the pisten in the cylinder 44 to advance the pusher 43 to the rightviewing Figures 1 and 2 to push the charge off of the fork 4! so thatthe charge is delivered onto 'the urnace hearth or upon other elementsof charge which have previously been introduced.

The operator may, if he so desires, lower the peel with the charge onthe fork within the furnace when there is not a deep layer of charge onthe furnace hearth so as to avoid falling of 'the charge through a greatdistance within the furnace. In this way the operator may be able to geta somewhat more eflicient charge or tighter pack" of the scrap on theurnace hearth. After the charge has been pushed off of the fork by thepusher 43 the pusher is retracted by releasing fluid from the left-handside of the piston in the cylinder 44 and admitting fluid to theright-hand side of that piston. The charger is wheeled back until thepeel is entirely out of the furnace and clears the car 51. The peel islowered by releasing fluid from below the piston in the cylinder 45 andwhen another charge is to be picked up the charger is advanced to pushthe fork 4I under the charge on the car 51 and the cycle of Operationsabove described is repeated.

The charger herein shown and described has been used very successfullyin the charging of bales of copper scrap into a copper melting furnace.It, of course, may be used in introducing charges of various kinds intofurnaces of various types. The charger is relatively simple inconstruction and is rugged and foolproof in operation. It is extremelyeflicient in that it has a very low ratio of the lengthof the charger'to the amplitude of vertical movement of the peel.

While I have shown and described a present preferred embodiment of theinvention it is to be distinctly understood that the invention is notlimited thereto but may be otherwise variously embodied within the scopeof the following claims.

I claimi u 1. A furnace charger comprising a base, arms pivoted to thebase and crossing each other, a peel carried by the arms, the armshaving elongated guideways extending respectively therealong, a controlmember guided by and movable along the guidevvays upon relative turningof the arms about their respective pivotal connections with the base,guide means fixedly mounted relatively to the base by which the controlmember -is also guided and along which it moves upon relative turning ofthe arms about their respective pivotal connections with the base andmeans for relatively turnin'g the arms about their respective pivotalconnections with the base.

`2. A furnace charger comprising a base, arms pivoted to the base andcrossing each other, a peel carried by the arms, the arms havingelongated guideways extending respectively therealong, a control memberguided by and movable along the guideways upon relative turning of thearms about their respective pivotal connections with the base, guidemeans fixedly mounted relatively to the base by which the control member'is also guided and along which it moves upon relthe other thereof, thearms having elongated guideways extending respectively therealong, a

control member guidecl by and movable 'along the guideways upon relativeturning of the arms about their respective pivotal connections With thebase, guide means fixedly mounted relatively to the base by which thecontrol member is also z along, a control member passing through saidslots and movable therealong upon relative turnin of the arms abouttheir respective pivotal connections with the base, guide means fixedlymounted relatively to the base by which the control member is alsoguicled and along which it moves upon relative turning of the arms abouttheir respective pivotal connections with the base and means forrelatively turning the arms about their respective pivotal connectionswith the base.

5. A urnace charger comprising a base, arms pivoted to the base andcrossing each other, a peel carried by the arms, being pivoted to onethereof and having a slidable connection With the other thereof, thearms having elongated slots therein extending respectively therealong, acontrol member passin through said slots and movable therealong uponrelative turning of the arms about their respective pivotal connectionsWith the base, guide means fixedly mounted relatively to the base bywhich the control member is. also guided and along which it moves uponrelative turning of the arms about their respective pivotal connectionswith the base and means'for relatively turning the arms about theirrespective pivotal connections with 'the base.

6. A furnace charger comprising a base, arms pivoted to the base andcrossing each other, a peel carried by the arms the arms havingelongated guideways extendin respectively therealong, a control memberguided by and movable along the guideways upon relative turning of thearms about their respective pivotal connections with the base, guidemeans fixedly mounted relatively to the base by which the control memberis also guided and along which it moves upon relative turning of thearms about their respective pivotal connections with the base and meansincluding a movable connection between the base and one of the arms forrelatively turning the arms about their respective pivotal connectionswith the base.

7. A furnace charger comprising a base, arms pivoted to the base andcrossing each other, a peel carried by the arms, being pivoted to onethereof and having a sliclable connection with the other thereof, thearms having elongated guideways extending'respectively therealong, a

control member guidecl by and movable along the guideways upon relativeturning of the arms about their respective pivotal connections with thebase, guide means fixedly mounted relatively to the base by which thecontrol member is also guided and along which it moves upon relativeturning of the arms about their respective pivotal connections with thebase and means including a movable connection between the base and thepivotal connection between the peel and. said arm for relatively turningthe arms about their respective pivotal connections with the base.

8. A urnace charger comprising a base, arms pivoted to the base andcrossing each other, a peel carried by the arms, the arms havingelongated guideways extencling respectively therealong, a control memberguided by and movable along the guideways upon relative turning of thearms about their respective pivotal connections with the base, guidemeans fixedly mounted relatively to the base by which the control memberis also guicled and along which it moves upon relative turning of thearms about their respective pivotal connections with the base and ahydraulically actuable Operating member connected with the base andacting against one of the arms for relatively turning the arms abouttheir respective pivotal connections with the base.

9. A furnace charger comprising a base, arms pivoted to the base andcrossing each other, a peel carried by the arms, the arms havingelongated guideways extencling respectively therealong, a control memberguided by and movable along the guideways upon relative turning of thearms about their respective pivotal connections With the base, guidemeans fixeclly mounted relatively to the base by which the controlmember is also guided and along which it moves upon relative turning or"the arm about their respective pivotal connections With the base and acylincler pivoted to the base, a pisten in the cylinder adapted to behydraulically actuated and a connection between the piston and one ofthe arms for relatively turning the arms about their respective pivotalconnections with the base.

10. A furnace charger comprising a base, arms pivoted to the base andcrossing each other, a peel carried by the arms, being pivoted to onethereof and having a sliclable connection with the other thereof, thearms having elongated guideways eX- tending respectively therealong, acontrol member guided by and movable along the guideways upon relativeturning of the arms about their respective pivotal connections With thebase, guide means fixedly mounted relatively to the base by which thecontrol member is also guidecl and along which it moves upon relativeturning of the arms about their respective pivotal connections With thebase and a cylinder pivoted to the base, a piston in the cylinderadapted to be hydraulically actuated and a connection between the pistonand the pivotal connection between the peel and said arm for relativelyturning the arms about their respective pivotal connections With thebase.

11. A urnace charger comprising a base, arms pivoted to the base andcrossing each other, a peel carried by the arms, the arms havingelongated guideways extending respectively therealong, a control memberguidecl by and movable along the guideways upon relative turning of thearms about their respective pivotal connections with the base, guidemeans by which the control member is also guided and along which itmoves upon'relative turning of the arms about their respective pivotalconnections with the base, means for fastening the guide means to thebase in different adjusted positions thereon and means for relativelyturning the arms about their respective pivotal connections with thebase.

12. A furnace charger comprising a base, arms pivoted to the base andcrossing each other, a peel carried. by the arms, the arms havingelongated guideways extending respectively therealong, a control memberguided by and movable along the guideways upon relative turning of thearms about their respective pivotal connections with the base, guidemeans by which the control member is also guided and along which itmoves upon relative turning of the arms about their respective pivotalconnections with the base, means for mounting the guide means on thebase, opposed adjusting screws for adjusting the position of the guidemeans on the base and means for relatively turning the arms about theirrespective pivotal connections with the base.

THOMAS M. ROSE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

Number 10 UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Barr Apr. 21, 1903 BrosiusOct. 27, 1931 Curok Dec. 4, 193 1 Faries July 12, 1938 Brosus Aug. 6,1946 FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date 10 Number France Oct. 14, 1930

